Is this Linux only? I see theres no Mac or Windows versions are they lightly in the future.

If you want to run it on either of these two platforms you have two choices:

1. You run Linux in a virtualized environment (free and easy, see for instance VirtualBox)2. You port it (more difficult)

I personally have no interest to port it, because I wrote it to fill in a gap for photographers who use Linux (who number more than you might imagine). But because the code is licensed under the GPL, and written using standard technologies (python and gtk), anyone is free to port it. As I have indicated above, anyone is welcome to do so.

In my earlier note, I hadn't noticed that this was for linux only. This does, indeed, fill a unique niche. I work with a lot of linux programmers, and they seem to have a fanatical (worse than mac people) dedication to open source and GPL, but I haven't been convinced that the photo tools are as robust and effective as the more widely available PC and Mac tools. Gimp is novel, but it seems substantially inferior to PS. The results I have seen from people working with Linux seem to be rougher, their tools less evolved.

Don't get me wrong, I would be ecstatic to see feature parity between commercially available tools for PC/Mac and the open source stuff, but it just doesn't seem to be there. For this reason, I kind of think the choice to be a linux photographer is a bit of a compromise at this stage of the game, at least where processing and usability is concerned.

At home I only use Linux, and have managed to deploy a complete work-flow using exclusively free software. I am well aware that most of the software I use could not compete with their commercial counterparts on a feature by feature comparison; and for most professionals, the compromise is understandably just unacceptable. But an amateur like me will probably never need (or even miss) most of those features; and the price of all that software is just prohibitive: your complete list probably costs more that all my photographic equipment together...

* Of course Photoshop is the gold standard and Gimp is not as good. Personally I use Photoshop, virtualized or native. I appreciate its wide variety of image sharpening options. But I do most of my work in Bibble Pro 5, which has a lot of things built in, like Noise Ninja, super quick and easy lens correction, hot pixel removal, etc. * I hardly use the capabilities of Bridge (I don't have much need for it) so I can't say much about that, except to point out that Bibble can handle metadata, maintain an image database, etc.* On the Qimage website the say it runs under Linux/Wine. I've only ever printed from my university so I can't comment.* For panoramas, there are quite a few programs, but to be honest I've never done a panorama so others will have to comment.* The Photomatix website says it works under Linux/Wine. There are also plenty of HDR programs under Linux. I hardly use any of these programs so I can't add much useful here.

As I mentioned earlier, Downloader Pro has lots of neat features. But I really do suspect Rapid Photo Downloader has some that it doesn't. For example, can Downloader Pro synchronize RAW+JPEG sequence numbers for images being downloaded from the same or different memory cards?

As I mentioned earlier, Downloader Pro has lots of neat features. But I really do suspect Rapid Photo Downloader has some that it doesn't. For example, can Downloader Pro synchronize RAW+JPEG sequence numbers for images being downloaded from the same or different memory cards?

What do you mean by synchronise in this case? The sequence number assigned by the camera would usually be identical if you were using raw+JPG shooting modes.

What do you mean by synchronise in this case? The sequence number assigned by the camera would usually be identical if you were using raw+JPG shooting modes.

A downloading program like Rapid Photo Downloader or Downloader Pro can be used to assign sequence numbers to images, e.g. 'Downloads Today', or a 'Stored number', etc. These are useful when you need to keep track of such things, or when you have multiple camera bodies and you need to guarantee you have unique file names. Since I added sequence numbers to Rapid Photo Downloader , I've never used the camera assigned number again, as they are (relatively speaking) quite long and serve no purpose.

A downloading program like Rapid Photo Downloader or Downloader Pro can be used to assign sequence numbers to images, e.g. 'Downloads Today', or a 'Stored number', etc. These are useful when you need to keep track of such things, or when you have multiple camera bodies and you need to guarantee you have unique file names. Since I added sequence numbers to Rapid Photo Downloader , I've never used the camera assigned number again, as they are (relatively speaking) quite long and serve no purpose.

There are many ways of keeping files unique with numerous bodies. Serial numbers, time stamps, shooter ID, unique additions if required (a "uniqueness" number if you like) etc etc.

But now I understand what you're saying - that you have some master reference number and that it syncs between raw and JPG. No, Downloader Pro doesn't do that. Personally I'd never need it, but I can see it being useful if it fits your workflow so it's a nice feature.

The most powerful feature of DLP for me is the huge variety of options I have for creating a file name, the ability to run plug-ins (such as DNG converter) - compared to anything else out there I've used, it's miles ahead.

The most powerful feature of DLP for me is the huge variety of options I have for creating a file name, the ability to run plug-ins (such as DNG converter) - compared to anything else out there I've used, it's miles ahead.

I also like its directory maker plugin and its geotagging capabilities. I wish there was a way easily have more than one job code in a day. You can do it by manually selecting the files and downloading them separately, but that is a bit of a pain considering all the great automation that it provides.

It's interesting that the plugins feature is something many (all?) of you seem to appreciate. Are all the plugins written by the author of Downloader Pro, or have third parties produced their own? One feature I was planning to add to Rapid Photo Downloader was something like this, which would probably be implemented as the ability to run a post download script (which means you could run practically anything you wanted with the right script).

The ability to map one field (e.g. serial number) to a user-defined value seems useful, as some image metadata fields are useful but very long. Do photographers here use it?

The way I've implemented Job Codes is that you can specify a new one or choose an existing one whenever you start a download. It will apply to every image being downloaded. As has already been indicated in this discussion, the problem Rapid Photo Downloader currently has is that it will try to download everything on the card, because as yet there is no feature to choose which images to download. A feature request for this has come up a few times recently, so it seems it would be helpful if me or another developer implemented this sooner rather than later! Personally I'd never use it, but I can see how it would be especially useful for those who want to apply a different Job Code to different sets of photos on the same card.